Penn Hills coach Robert Cash took a huge chance when he called timeout with his team trailing by one with 2.8 seconds left at Oakland Catholic.
Luckily for the Indians he set up the perfect play.
Senior guard Adia Brisker, who finished with 15 points, took the inbounds pass near the top of the key then scooped in a left-handed layup as time expired to give Class 5A No. 4-ranked Penn Hills (10-3, 6-0) a dramatic 32-31 victory against No. 2 Oakland Catholic (10-2, 5-1).
With the victory the Indians took over sole possession of first place in Section 3.
More top girls games
■ Madi Lorigan hit the second of two free throws with no time left on the clock to give Armstrong (6-6, 3-3) a 29-28 victory against Class 5A No. 3 Mars (9-3, 3-2). Shae Clark led the River Hawks with 10 points. It is the fewest points scored in a game for the defending PIAA champion Planets since a 32-23 loss to Plum Jan. 3, 2017.
■ Class 6A No. 2 Peters Township (10-0, 5-0) was the only one of the WPIAL’s three remaining undefeated teams playing Thursday and the Indians remained unbeaten as Makenna Marisa scored 21 and Isabella Mills 19 in a 64-36 Section 2 win against Mt. Lebanon (5-7, 4-2).
■ Connellsville (4-8, 1-5) junior Sara Aumer scored a game-high 16 points and Baileigh Bishop 10 as the Falcons pushed Upper St. Clair to double overtime, but the Panthers (7-5, 4-2), behind 15 from Cassie Kartsonas, pulled out a 37-32 Class 6A Section 2 win.
■ Canon-McMillan (5-7, 2-4) was once again in a close game and once again came out on the short end as Olivia Westphal had a game-high 14 points to lead Class 6A No. 3 Bethel Park (10-1, 5-1) to a 42-38 win. It was the Big Macs’ fourth consecutive loss.
■ Vincentian has played in a WPIAL championship in each of the past seven years, but the Royals (3-8, 1-4) will be hard-pressed to make it back this season as Taylor Kirschner scored 14 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter and was 13 of 14 from the free-throw line to lead Quigley (7-5, 4-1) to a 55-49 Class 1A Section 1 win.
■ Class 2A No. 4 Brentwood (6-3, 5-1) got an early challenge from Ellis School (9-3, 2-3) before the Spartans defense clamped down and surrendered just 14 second-half points, while Natalie Murrio and Rebecca Dirling each scored 10 in a 45-33 come-from-behind win.
Star of the day
■ Carlynton junior guard Jada Lee had a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the Cougars (9-2, 4-2) rolled to a 74-31 road win at Valley (2-11, 0-6).
First Published: January 11, 2019, 3:52 a.m.